The Hachidaime Hokage
by The blue day dream
Summary: A series of one-shots revolving around Uchiha Sarada as the eight Hokage - the Hachidaime. (Possible) multiple pairing.
1. Goal

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything you recognize.**

 **Title: Goal**

 **Character: Uchiha Sarada, Uzumaki Boruto, Uzumaki Naruto, Mitsuki**

 **Pairing: minor Sarada/Boruto**

 **Rating: T (just to be safe)**

 **Summary: Sarada's evolution and how she becomes the eight Hokage of Konoha one day.**

 **Word count: 3267**

* * *

"Mama, I want to be the Hokage one day."

It began as a child's dream. Wishful and simple.

Her father was always _not_ home, with Sarada, with her mother. She had never seen him, not once, except through the picture kept on the shelf and even then, it was of his younger self. Mama said he was away on an important mission, that he was fighting to keep them safe, that he cared about them and loved them very much.

But Sarada didn't need to be safe. She just needed him home.

The other kids teased her constantly. She didn't care when they called her four-eyes, or weirdo, or monster-forehead. But she cared when they said she didn't have a father, because that was simply not true.

Uchiha Sarada had a father. He was just not here.

And she would make him. Once she became Hokage, she would order him to stay in the village every day, all the time.

The Hokage was the most powerful shinobi in the world. Surely, he couldn't defy the Hokage's order, could he?

"Hokage?" her mama said, an eyebrow quirking in amusement as she crouched down so their faces were level, "You want to be like Naruto-ojiichan then?"

Sarada shook her head fervently. "No. Even ojiichan couldn't keep papa in the village. But when I'm Hokage, I can."

A sort of sadness crossed her mama's face just then, the kind that Sarada couldn't fully grasp. Sakura's green eyes softened as she regarded her daughter. Then she held her hand up and Sarada could feel fingers tapping softly against her forehead.

"You don't need to be Hokage for papa to come home, Sara-chan. You just need to be yourself."

But Sarada was determined.

* * *

When she stood up in her seat and proclaimed to the entire class of eight-year-old that she would be the next Hokage one day, a kid burst out in laughter. It was not the kind of happy laughter that Himawari gave off whenever Sarada came over to play, nor was it the loving sound her mother made whenever Sarada gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her that she loved her.

It was the ugly, mocking kind, and it made Sarada went red in the face.

"Do you have a problem with that?" she growled, whirling around to face whoever had dared to make fun of her dream.

The girl sat two seats behind Sarada. Short brown hair, bright eyes and something close to a sneer on her face. Sarada had never seen her before, and she couldn't understand what she could possibly have done that could piss this girl off.

What was wrong with wanting to be the Hokage?

"Uchihas can't be Hokage. My mom says you people are full of hate. You'll ruin everything!" the girl retorted, standing up.

"Now, kids-"

"I'm not full of hate! Take that back!" Sarada's voice was close to a scream.

Why did this girl seem to hate her so much?

"Your uncle was a _criminal_ , your precious daddy as well. He goes around, murdering-"

It took two of her classmates to pull Sarada off the girl. Shino-sensei gave them a detention and called their parents. The girl had a broken nose and black eyes and demanded that Sarada apologized to her.

She didn't. She did nothing wrong.

"My papa and uncle are not criminals," Sarada told her girl, with the kind of voice one used when stating simple facts of life such as the sun rose from the east and the sky was blue. "Someday, I'll be Hokage and you'll eat your words."

* * *

Mitsuki pissed her off.

Whenever someone questioned Sarada about it, she would say that he was too blunt and needed a filter, that he was obsessed with parentage, that his eyes reminded her of snakes and she didn't like snakes.

The real reason, one she refused to admit to anyone, was that she hated the way he dismissed her dream and not acknowledge her as someone that could one day become the Hokage. Not that he had told her in so many words, but Sarada wasn't _Boruto._ Meaning that she could read between the lines. Meaning that she understood what he thought about her.

And she hated it. She hated _him._

All these little suggestions, these talk about how Boruto would be a good Hokage someday, because his dad was the Nanadaime and his grandfather was the Yondaime. Even though Sarada was the one expressing active interest in the position, while Boruto had never so much as uttered the words "I want to be Hokage" once.

Mitsuki was an idiot, she decided. An annoying idiot.

She wasn't happy when they were placed on the same team. It was easy enough avoiding him when they were in the Academy, but being teammates were different. It just meant that she would have to exercise extra self-restraint in order to not punch him to the next village whenever he made one of his comments.

It would seriously hinder her chance of becoming Hokage if she had a criminal record. And even though Sarada didn't _really_ consider murdering annoying teammate as being illegal, the village's justice system had other ideas. So she just had to imagine the punching bag as Mitsuki and worked out her frustration whenever possible.

Then they had that mission. It was simple - aid relief for a village in the mountains suffering from landslide. They were helping with food distribution when a second wave occurred and the team got separated. Boruto with Konohamaru-sensei, and her with Mitsuki. They managed to clear the villagers in time, but then the ground beneath her feet gave way and Sarada was tumbling through thin air.

Until a pair of elongated arms wrapped themselves around her body, halting her mid-fall.

"You…saved me," was what she said, once she was pulled up and secured.

He cracked a wry smile. "You sound so surprised."

"I thought…don't you ha-not like me?"

"Why would you think that?" he blinked, looking flabbergasted.

Was he trying to play dumb?

"Why wouldn't I?" Sarada snapped, suddenly angry. All the feelings that she had been bottling up ever since Mitsuki moved to the village poured out. The words that she had wanted to say (had meant to, one day) escaped her mouth before she was aware of them. "You are always…always _making fun_ of my dream. Saying Boruto will be the Hokage. Completely dismissing me, like I'm some weak little girl with a stupid, unrealistic goal because my papa is not the Nanadaime and my grandfather is not the Yondaime. And you wonder why I think you don't like me?"

There was a long stretch of silence between them, in which Sarada kept breathing in harshly and Mitsuki kept staring at her like he had never seen her before. He opened his mouth and snapped it shut, and then repeated the process several times. It was probably the first she had ever seen of him to be struggling for words.

"Well, say something!" Sarada had meant it to be a snap, but it came out sounding too much like a plea for her liking. Why would she want him to say anything? Was she afraid, perhaps, that his silence meant that what she had accused him of was true and her teammate really thought so low of her?

But she had always known it was true, wasn't it?

"I'm not…you…I mean…" Mitsuki stammered, before pinching the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. "This is ridiculous. Sarada, you are an idiot-"

"- _Excuse me?_ "

"-and I am, too, I guess," he continued, a soft, apologetic smile playing on his lips. "I never knew that you wanted to be Hokage. I just assumed-well, in hindsight, the things I said was pretty insensitive. I'm sorry about that. This is all a big misunderstanding."

She was skeptical at first. But then, she remembered that Mitsuki had only moved to Konoha recently and therefore, wasn't present when she stated her intention for the future. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't recall one incident in which she explicitly stated, in front of him, that she wanted to be Hokage.

She was an idiot.

"I don't think you are weak. You are one of the strongest people I know. Anyone who actually thinks so about you probably doesn't have a brain."

A blush crept onto her face at his compliment. But she decided that humor was the best way to go about in this situation and so she grinned, "You are not just saying that because you are afraid I would punch you, right?"

"Well, I do have good self-preservation instinct-ow, that hurts!"

"Guys, are you alright?"

"For the record, Sarada, I think you would make one hell of a Hokage one day."

Grinning so wide her face hurt probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to do while assisting in disaster-aid, but Sarada couldn't help it.

* * *

When Sarada was sixteen, she was a hairline away from dying.

The thought of dying itself wasn't that much of a surprise for her. She knew she would die somedays. Probably soon. Probably young. That was just one of the occupational hazards. Being a shinobi meant that she had less chance of surviving until forty than the civilian couples living in the apartment next to hers.

It was a fact. She accepted it.

It was just that… _sixteen._ She was still too young. She hadn't even had her first kiss. Heck, she hadn't even had sex and she was quite curious about how that would play out. All these mundane things she hadn't had the chance to try and probably never would.

But most of all, she hadn't even become Hokage yet.

"Oh shit, Sara-chan, s _hit!_ "

Funnily enough, none of those regrets were in her mind when she leaped forward and intercepted the blade that should have been for the Nanadaime. Nothing were in her mind at all, except for the thought that someone was attacking her Hokage and the village needed him and she would die rather than let that blade touch him.

And so she would. Die.

The poison was slowly numbing her body. Sarada couldn't feel the pain anymore. But her blood was still flowing.

"Someone get a medic! Now!"

Her vision was blurry. She was a head of golden hair. Naruto-ojiichan. He was the Hokage. He was the hope and dream of the village.

It wasn't so bad, she decided, if she couldn't live until the day she became his successor, if she couldn't try out all those mundane things that she wanted to. The hope and dream of Konoha was _alive,_ because of her.

Wasn't that what Hokages did? Protect the village? She was protecting hers.

And so, somewhere down the line, it had changed from wanting her father to stay home, to dedicate her life protecting Konoha. She would be the sword, she would be the shield, and she would be everything else in between, whatever the people needed.

"You are not dying out on me, Sara-chan. That's an order."

Sarada smiled. Well, it wouldn't do to disobey direct order from her Hokage, now would it?

* * *

He threatened to break down her door. She didn't believe him at first, but then she remembered that he was Uzumaki Boruto and he was always, always serious with threats.

"I could report you for trespassing," she said in a flat voice as she opened the door. He was dirty and sweaty and still in his mission garb. He was bleeding in a couple of places as well and her voice was a tiny bit less flat as she told him, "Go to the hospital."

Black met blue for a split second. His eyes were blazing with so many emotions, and Sarada looked away before she could interpret each of them. She didn't want to, not right now.

"Like hell I am," he snapped and then pushed past her into the apartment, fury wafting off his body in waves. Sarada could haphazard a guess as to why. "What the fuck are you thinking, Sarada?"

He wasn't calling her Uchiha. This was serious.

"You have to be more specific than that," she didn't look at him as she replied, merely closing the door behind her and settled down onto the sofa with a kind of calmness she shouldn't be feeling.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about! Don't play dumb with me!"

Sarada pressed her lips together, the first sign that she wasn't as put together as she wanted to. When she didn't offer him any answer, Boruto let out an angry hiss. "Fine, if you want to be stubborn, then I'll tell you! I came back from my mission, only to find out that my dad named you his successor and you _declined._ What the fuck was that? Better yet, who the fuck are you? You can't be Uchiha Sarada."

"You don't know anything," she said in a low voice. Her fingers were shaking and something was threatening to snap inside her, but she had to hold it together. She had to.

" _I_ don't know anything?" he exploded, "I can't believe….You just…I've known you since I was born. Twenty-six years. All of my damn life! And here you are, telling me-"

"-you don't know what happened!" she shouted, cutting him off as she leaped up from the sofa, her body rigid. Her eyes were trained on a spot above his head, because she didn't dare look at him and see the disappointment that she knew was there. "You weren't there. You didn't know how…how I…I couldn't even…"

It was difficult to breath, and impossible to form any coherent words. Her mind whirled as images of her last mission were brought back. Everything had gone wrong. Minami was _dead_. Her friend, almost like a little sister, so young and full of hope.

 _'I'll be a teacher, senpai. The kids will call me sensei. Once I get back, I'll go straight to the Academy to apply.'_

Minami never lived to see that dream come true.

All because of her. Sarada was the taichou. It was her responsibility to protect every single one of her subordinates and yet, she had failed them. She had failed Minami.

If she couldn't even protect one shinobi, how could anyone trust her to protect Konoha? How could she trust herself?

"Then tell me, please," his voice was soft and pleading. He was so close, his hands on her arms, anchoring her.

And she let herself break. She told him everything, in between gasping breath and salty tears. "I don't deserve to be Hokage. That's why I decline," she admitted at last. And she didn't know what she expected, probably for Boruto to agree with her, to tell her that she had made the right decision.

What she didn't expect, was anger lacing in his words as he said, "If that's what you really think, then Sarada, you're right. _You don't deserve to be Hokage!_ "

"You-"

"No, you know what? You don't get to say anything, because you are sounding more and more like a fool," he snapped, "You are being a coward, that's what you are. That's what Minami would say if she was here right now."

"How _dare_ you-"

"-shut up! I get it, you don't want to be responsible for the deaths of others. But we are shinobis, Sarada. We accept the risk when we put on our hitai-ite. Them…Minami, she knew what could happen and she didn't blame you for it. So why are you?

"After what happened, you are afraid. The pain, the loss…I feel it, too, you know. But running away isn't the solution. It's a move of a coward and…I don't…I don't fall in love with a coward. I fall in love with the future Hokage."

Her eyes widened as she took in the implication of his words _._

 _I fall in love with the future Hokage_.

Her heart was thumping inside her chest as her mind turn the words over and over again. She wondered if she had misheard him, if she had imagined the entire thing.

 _I fall in love with the future Hokage._

Her best friend was in love with her?

"Please look at me," he murmured.

And she did. His eyes were bluer than she had ever seen, a mixture of love, admiration and longing.

She didn't know what to say.

"Death…is inevitable, Sarada. You can't fight it and hope to win. But as Hokage, you can minimize our loss and make sure that our people live longer. If you run away now, then it would all be for naught. You can't give up that easily. That's not who you are.

"I know that you are good and honest and kind, even if you are a right pain sometimes," he grinned at that. "I know that you are one of the best Konoha had to offer. I know that you have a dream, and that you would never give up on that. If you are anything like the Uchiha Sarada that I know and _love_ , then you will meet my dad first thing tomorrow, and you'll accept that position as his successor."

"But what if I fail?"

"You won't," he replied easily, with conviction and so much faith. "But if you do, I'll be there to catch you and help you stand up again."

Those were the last words they exchanged in a very, very long while.

* * *

The sky was still dark when she woke up. For a moment, she laid in her bed, unmoving, as she thought of what was awaiting her in a few hours.

It was inauguration day. When she went to bed tonight, she would be doing so as Konoha's eighth Hokage.

The Hachidaime.

She could scarcely believe it. More than once during the night, she had jerked awake, thinking that it was all a dream, only to be reminded that no, she really was going to become the next Hokage.

So much had changed in her life. She could recall the first time she told her mother of her dream, all those years ago, back when she was small and standing barefoot in the kitchen. Many kids dreamed of becoming the Hokage, but only a few could claim that they actually did.

Sarada was about to be one of those few.

What had started as wanting her father home had changed into something much bigger than herself. Her father was back in the village, permanently, not out of order but because he loved them - her mother, her siblings and her. He had told her, like her mother did long ago, that she didn't need to be the Hokage for him to stay.

"You are Uchiha Sarada. That's enough," he had said.

She believed him. Her dream was no longer about him, it was about her. To be the best that she could be. To serve the village with everything she had. To protect the village until her last breath.

It wouldn't be easy, but then again, nothing that was worth pursuing ever was.

In a few hours, the sun would rise and the villagers would be out on the street. And Sarada, she would be in her new hat and cape, swearing to dedicate her life to her new family of thousands.

"I present to you, the Hachidaime Hokage, Uchiha Sarada."

 _End._


	2. Premature

**Summary: In which Boruto was overprotective, Sarada was stubborn and Uzumaki Chiharu was a bit eager to say hello to the world.**

 **Pairing: Uchiha Sarada/Uzumaki Boruto**

 **Rating: T**

 **Genre: Romance**

 **Word count: 2160**

 **Note: Chiharu means "a thousand springs" in Japanese.**

* * *

Sarada gritted her teeth, putting her hands on her hips in a gesture indicating clear annoyance as she glared at him. Any other shinobis would have cowered away when confronted with such a look (from the Hokage, no less), but he held his ground, seemingly unfazed - for he was Uzumaki Boruto and more importantly, her husband, and therefore practically immune to her temper by now.

"For the last time, Boruto, I'm pregnant, not made of glass," she growled. Her eyes narrowed to slits as he snorted.

"Of course I know that-"

"-do you? Because judging from the way you behave lately-"

"-I have not forgotten the incident last month!" he pressed on as if she hadn't said anything. "Which, I still think, was completely reckless of you, by the way."

The Uchiha sniffed. Last month, a group off assassins (and whoever had hired them) had gotten it into their heads that the Hachidaime was much less of a threat when she was six and a half month pregnant and was starting to look like she was smuggling a ball under her shirt. They had timed their attack for when her husband was away for a mission and she was all alone in their apartment, apparently defenseless.

Long story short, Sarada had made quick work of the assailants (and had demolished half of their home in the process, which explained why they were staying at her parents' house for the time being). Her advisor had insisted that she publicized the information about the attack. Not only would it make their enemies think twice about attacking Sarada, it would also reaffirm the image of a strong, capable leader even when she was in her most delicate period.

The incident had been something of a final straw for Boruto, who up until then had already been extremely protective of her. This was their first child after two miscarriages, so it was only natural for her husband to be more than a little apprehensive.

Since she was attacked, he had refused all missions and had, instead, became something of an unofficial assistant for her. He was also much jumpier than he had ever been, as proven by the one time when he had nearly blast a stray cat to pieces because he thought it was someone sneaking up to them.

Mitsuki found all of this greatly amusing. Sarada, not so much.

His protectiveness was grating on her last nerves. She had been patient, and had thought it rather funny in the beginning, because she understood the root cause of it. He was afraid of losing her and their baby.

But enough was enough, she decided. She had to put her foot down on this.

"Boruto, I am _not_ going to miss the Kage summit. It only happens every two years and I have to be there."

"It's a three-day travel to Suna over difficult terrain and Kami knows what else. Send someone else," he insisted. "Come on, Sarada, you're not in any condition to-"

"I am in perfect condition to do whatever damn well I want!" she snapped, hands balling into fist. She was fast losing her temper and her husband was not making it any easier with his overprotectiveness.

 _Maybe you are being unreasonable,_ whispered a voice inside her head, which she quickly chased away. Sarada didn't think she was being unreasonable. She still had a month and a half to go before her baby was due. The pregnancy had been progressing smoothly ever since they found out, the baby growing at a healthy rate. There were no complications, no problems that could aggravated by her moving around - hell, she didn't even experience morning sickness!

As such, she was optimistic that attending the Kage summit in Suna for the next two weeks would be fine for her. They would take the train there instead of travelling on foot. There would be a medical team on hand at all times to make sure that nothing would go wrong, should anything happened.

Sarada had pointed all of this out to Boruto, but he was still not convinced.

"You are a medic yourself. You know that with pregnancies, anything could happen!" he argued, his voice rising. "Why are you…why are you being so _careless_ about this? Are you willing to sacrifice the safety of our daughter just to attend some meeting?"

Sarada reeled back as if she had just been slapped. Regret crossed his features the moment he was aware of what he had just said. Immediately, he took a few steps towards her, sputtering, "I don't-I don't mean-"

"How could you?" she asked quietly, shying away from his touch, eyes full of hurt. She couldn't believe that he had accused her of _that_ , of all things. "How could you say something like that?"

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it…I was just angry and it just came out…"

"But you think it, don't you? You think I don't care about our baby at all! You think I'm just trying to pull some stupid stunt to prove that I can!"

"Sarada…"

"I have thought of every possibility, have done everything I can to ensure that no harm would come to her," she said, voice low. "If I thought that something would happen, I would never have agreed to go in the first place. I thought that after all these years, you would have known me enough to understand. But maybe I was wrong."

"Please, I-"

She held up a hand to stop him. "Just listen to me. If you don't understand that, then understand this. I am not just any normal kunoichi. I am the Hokage. I have responsibilities not just to myself or to my family, but to the village as well. I can't desert them whenever I, or my husband, want."

Silence descended between them after her words. Sarada resolutely looked away, not trusting herself to look at him without crying. What he said had hurt, and even if she knew that he didn't mean them, didn't mean to hurt her, the fact remained that it had happened.

In the years since they were married, and even much longer before that, they had said many things to one another that Sarada was not proud off. They fought just as much as they got along and considering their tempers, they had hurt each other many times without intending to.

As such, she understood what he was feeling now. Much as there was this small, vindictive part inside of her that urged her to let him have a taste of what she felt, Sarada couldn't bring herself to. She could not willingly hurt him like that, knowing exactly how it would make him feel. He was her husband, her best friend, not an enemy that she wanted revenge on.

"I am sorry," he whispered at last, and this time, she let him take her in his arms, her head burrowed into the crook of his neck. "I am so sorry about what I said to you. I know that you would never hurt our child. I was just being stupid and saying things without thinking.

"But I am worried, still. I couldn't help but think that…what if…what if there was something wrong. You have no little enemies, Sarada, and I as well. If they decide to attack…" he sucked in a shaking breath, "I wasn't there for you last time. Things could have turned out much differently…"

"But you will be with me this time," she murmured, looking up at him, "So will Mitsuki. The three of us can take on anything, remember?"

A hesitant smile grace his face. "Of course. The power of team 7. How silly of me to forget."

"I promise that I will be extremely careful. I know that you can't help worrying…I am the same. But please, have faith in me and in yourself. And please, be a little more optimistic. I'm supposed to be the one brooding and sulking all the time, not you," she said teasingly.

"Well, it's contagious. Maybe I ought to spend less time with you…"

She quirked an eyebrow. "Is that your way of saying you want to sleep on the couch tonight?"

"I know you won't be able to sleep without me."

Her only reply was a smile as she leaned up to kiss him.

* * *

In all her planning for the Kage summit, Sarada had clearly miscalculated some elements.

Like the fact that given that her daughter was an Uzumaki, she was bound to be unpredictable and impatient. Obviously, she wouldn't take too well to people predicting when she would be born and had decided to grace the world with her presence much sooner than expected.

" _Fuck!_ "

Every pair of eyes in the room zeroed in on her with varying looks of bewilderment on their faces. Shinki, the sixth Kazekage, started carefully, "Lady Hokage, is something the matter?"

"Well, yes, there actually is," she grimaced when she realized her robes were sopping wet. "My water just broke."

For one second, it seemed as though the entire room had been frozen in time. No one moved or said anything, they didn't even dare to breath.

Then the enormity of her words sunk in and chaos broke out. In any other situation, Sarada would have fine it hilarious that people who governed entire villages could so easily lose their composure when confronted with a woman about to go into labor.

But her water had just broken and her baby was about to be born five weeks early and Sarada was finding it extremely hard to pay attention to anything else.

Within moments, Boruto had appeared right next to her, his voice full of panic as he asked, "Are you serious? It's not…it's only…"

"Yes, I am serious, Boruto," she answered, her voice oddly calm for someone whose mind was running with a thousand theories on _why_ she was having a premature birth.

"Get the medic team and have them prepare a room for Lady Hokage, _now!"_ Shinki ordered.

What followed next was a flurry of movement as she was transferred to a labor room in Suna maternity ward, changed into the ugly hospital gown that she had always detested and had a medic check up on her progress. Boruto was with her the whole time - holding her hands, assuring her that everything would be alright and telling her that she was doing very well.

What was left unaddressed between them, however, was the question of whether they were ready for this. In a few hours, they would officially become parents. Sarada felt like the last seven months had not been enough to prepare them for this new journey. They hadn't finished the nursery…scratch that, they hadn't even had a new nursery. They hadn't had a name picked out yet. They had yet to make plans for leave after their daughter was born, thinking that they still have some time to finalized the details.

In short, Sarada thought that they were about as unready as anyone could get.

"Boruto, what if…what if we are not ready to be parents?"

"How can you always voice the exact question on my mind?" he grinned weakly, looking just as worried as she was. "I don't know, Sarada, but we don't have any other choice, do we? She's about to be coming and if we are not ready, then it would be on her. We can't do that to our daughter."

"I don't think I have ever felt this nervous before, not even during my inauguration. Funny, I can command thousands of shinobis with ease and yet…I'm scared, Boruto," she winced as she felt a contraction gripped her body. They were occurring with increased frequency now.

"Me too, sweetheart, me too," he murmured. He leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"You are Uchiha Sarada and I am Uzumaki Boruto. We are a team, always have been," he smiled, his eyes shining with a confidence that hadn't been there before. "And as long as we are together, then there is nothing that we cannot do. Believe it!"

Not for the first time, Sarada was thankful that she had been fortunate enough to have this man as her husband.

* * *

Uzumaki Chihiro was born a spring baby, with pink hair and eyes the brightest of blue. She was the daughter of the eight Hokage and the man who, through thick and thin, stood by her side and watched over her from the shadow and in broad daylight.

"Wecome to our family, Chihiro. We love you so, so much."

 _End._


	3. Duties

**Summary: He was the Nara clain heir. She was the last of the Uchiha. It seemed as though even as Hokage, love still didn't come easy.**

 **Pairing: Uchiha Sarada/Nara Shikadai**

 **Rating: T**

 **Genre: Romance, Hurt/Comfort**

 **Author note: So here's me playing around with clan politics and soap-opera-inspired plot. It's a bit of a mess, quite frankly.**

 **Note: Italics - flashbacks**

 **Word count: 3883 words**

* * *

The number of Uchihas existing in this world was a grand total of three. Her mother, her father and her. Sarada knew that once upon a time, her parents had tried to have more children. But after three miscarriages and one close call that nearly costed her mother her life, her parents had stopped trying.

And Sarada was the heir.

She was Hokage, first and foremost, but she was also an Uchiha and she knew that the continued existence of her clan depended solely on her. The name, the legacy, the history, the future - they were all in her hands.

Her duties were many, though Sarada didn't mind shouldering one more.

Being the responsible one was hard. But no one had told her that it would hurt this much.

"It's better this way, you know. Best to…quit while we are ahead."

"Quit while we are ahead," he echoed flatly. She forced her gaze away from his teal eyes, because she knew that if she looked at him any longer, she would start crying.

Sarada could only imagine how that scene would be like. The Hokage, bawling in her office.

"You understand, don't you? You're the Nara heir and I…well, I'm the last Uchiha. I can't let my clan die out," she swallowed. "It's never going to amount to anything else between us."

Plans. Responsibilities. Doing what was right. Sarada knew Shikadai would understand these things, and she knew that he would agree with her. This was reasonable. Frankly, this was the best course of action to prevent any future heartbreaks for them. If this went on any longer, she was afraid that she might not be able to let go…

 _Don't think like that!_

This was the right thing to do. As clan heirs, they had responsibilities to their families. Beyond that, as Hokage, Sarada had a duty not to just protect the village from outside forces, but to prevent internal conflicts as well. If they pursued down this path, it could put her family and the Naras in a difficult situation.

When had her life turned into one of those dramas on TV that Ino-baachan loved to watch?

"You've made your choice." It wasn't a question.

She nodded. She was glad for the desk separating them, glad that it prevented her from reaching out to him. She longed to touch him, but she shouldn't. Not anymore.

Not ever, it seemed.

"Are you…Do you hate me?" the question came out as a shaky whisper. Sarada felt her throat constricted.

"That's not possible," Shikadai replied quietly, voice wavering. Then, his face hardened slightly and he clenched his jaws, the way he did whenever he tried to reign in his emotion. "I respect your decision. You're right. This is the best course of action for the both of us."

There was this tiny part inside her that had hoped he would fight this, so that she would dare to follow him, because didn't she want to be happy as well? But that part died when he said those words and she knew it was unfair of her to ask that of him, especially when she had already given up.

"Thank you, for understanding," she murmured. "I guess this is it, then."

"Yes, this is it," he nodded and stood up. His body was rigid as he bowed to her. "Have a good day," Shikadai stopped to consider his words, "Hokage-sama."

That was it.

* * *

 _The first time they met, Sarada broke his nose._

 _It was an accident. She hadn't meant to pull the punch, at least not on him. Boruto was being an idiot (which was nothing new) and Sarada wanted to shut him up. Shikadai just happened to be standing a bit too close. He appeared to have rotten luck, because the next thing they knew, the boy was on the ground, clutching his nose as a stream of blood dripped steadily down his face._

 _Sarada needed to work on her aim._

 _"Shikadai, man, are you alright?" Boruto asked, trying to appear concerned. Though he looked a little too gleeful for not being on the receiving end of Sarada's punch to actually pull it off._

 _"I'm so sorry! I didn't…it's an accident, I swear!" Sarada stammered, crouching down next to him._

 _Up until a second ago, Shikadai had been tempted to complain and demand what the girl's problem had been, followed closely by a comment of how bothersome she was. But one look at her frantic expression and the guilt in her dark eyes, and his annoyance evaporated. He couldn't bring himself to scold her._

 _Even if his nose hurt. A lot._

 _"'s okay….don't worry about it," he mumbled, wiping the blood off his face with the sleeve of his jacket._

 _"This is all your fault, Uzumaki!" she rounded on Boruto, hands on her hips. She distinctively reminded Shikadai of Lady Sakura right then, whom he thought was the most beautiful and scary woman in the world, right behind his mom._

 _Not that he thought this girl was beautiful._

 _"Why is it my fault?! You were the one punching people, Uchiha!"_

 _"Well, if you weren't such a big idiot…"_

 _Shikadai sighed and stood up, nose still throbbing. The pair had forgotten about him entirely, it seemed. Lack of attention never bothered him, but he wouldn't mind if this girl gave him that look full of concern again._

* * *

The paperwork was endless. Naruto had jokingly warned her about it once and then proceeded to ask if she still wanted the post. Now, as Sarada went through the report on the newest construction site, she couldn't help but admit that there was a degree of truth in his words.

Closing the file and placed it on the pile of work that she had got done, she took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her head was throbbing. She had been shut inside her office for almost the entire day, finalizing new plans for the village, handing out missions and dealing with temper tantrums of Genins sick of D-ranks, and then sat through a meeting with several merchants who accused Konoha of stealing their customers. She struggled to think of the last time she had eaten…was it this morning? Or the night before? Didn't she have a couple of biscuits a few hours ago?

Sarada wasn't too sure anymore.

 _This Hokage business might just be the death of me,_ she thought grimly to herself as she reached for another file, then stiffened as she felt the chakra signature approaching her office along with several other.

Of all the times for them to be meeting…

A knock at the door. "Come in," she called out, her voice hoarse after remaining silent for a long while.

Shikadai walked in, followed closely his Genins who seemed to be bickering about something. He once called them his 'minions', she remembered, and then she silently berated herself for digging up old memories at the most inopportune moment.

No use thinking about what they used to have now.

"Hokage-sama," he bowed, and the three preteens mimicked their sensei movement, still glaring at another. Despite her exhaustion, the corner of her lips curled up into a fond smile as she was reminded of her own Genin days.

"I take it the mission was a success?" she asked. Sarada was a master of maintaining an unaffected, professional façade these days. Especially in front of Shikadai.

"It is a success. Although, my students seem to have decided taking a bath in a swamp was a good idea," he commented dryly as he casted a look at the trio, who was covered in mud and Kami knew what else.

"Sensei! I told you it was an accident!"

"Yeah, if Hachiro-baka didn't try to push me in-"

"Alright, kids, so long as no one's hurt…you are all dismissed," Sarada interrupted before her office was turned into a battlefield. "Go home and clean up."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," they chorused. The bickering picked up as soon as they were out of the door.

Shikadai remained where he was standing, hands in his pocket, his face stoic. The look in his eyes was a bit too intense for her to be comfortable.

"Do you have something you wish to discuss with me?"

"You look terrible."

She raised an eyebrow at him, bemused. "If you are here just to comment about my looks-"

"That's not…I just mean you should take better care of yourself," he sighed. "You seem tired."

"Yes, well, what else is new," she muttered, turning away. She was exhausted and his presence wasn't helping. Once upon a time, it might, but now all it managed to do was put her on edge. She was torn between pushing him out of the door and pulled him in and kissed him senseless. Both options were equally tempting and unfeasible.

She couldn't kick him out, that was just plain rude. She _definitely_ couldn't kiss him, because if she did…well, who knew where that would lead to.

"Why are you doing this, Shikadai?" she asked quietly, tilting her head up to look at him. There was too much sadness in his eyes.

"Am I not allowed to care about you anymore?"

 _Yes. No. Maybe._ There was no correct way to answer that question, it seemed.

"I have a lot of work to do, Shikadai," she concluded, a note of finality in her voice.

After one torturous moment of silence, he said, "Have a good night then, Hokage-sama."

And then he was gone.

She was growing to hate that goodbye from him.

* * *

 _"I need a favor."_

 _"Well, that's something you don't hear every day." There was a teasing smile in his eyes as he looked up at her from his Shogi board. Shikadai was playing against himself, which she didn't really get how that would work out, but his attention was no longer on the game._

 _"Just because I-" she started to retort, but then thought better of it. "Okay, never mind that. Thing is, I have a bit of a problem and I would be really grateful if you could help me out with it."_

 _He raised his brows. "You need to be a bit more specific than that," he said, leaning forward with his chin on one hand, legs still folded together. It was a rather becoming position…_

 _Wait, what?_

 _"Sarada?"_

 _"Uhm, right…" she mumbled, searching for the right words. The last thing she needed was getting distracted right now. "I need you to…well, go on a date with me."_

 _Judging from the widening of his eyes and the way his mouth had slightly gone agape, Sarada was sure that this was not what he expected from her. "Are you…asking me out, by any chance?"_

 _"You don't have to sound so horrified about it," she remarked dryly, and when he opened his mouth to say something else, she pressed on, "It's not like that. I'm not asking you out on a real date, but more like pretending."_

 _"I'm rather confused right now."_

 _"I'm doing a horrible job of explaining this," she muttered to herself. "Alright, let me try this again. I need your help getting Boruto and ChouChou off my back. I've had a…bad break-up a while ago and I haven't really gone on dates or anything like that since. They keep pestering me lately. Frankly, it's sort of annoying. I mean, I know they mean well and they don't want to see me alone and stuff. But, yeah, that's that."_

 _When he failed to answer, she added hurriedly, "You don't have to worry about paying or doing anything. Just show up and…uhm, smile? And I'll owe you one. You can ask me any favor you want. Well, within reason."_

 _He smiled. "Why me?"_

 _How typical of Shikadai to ask that. He would want to know all the facts before he decided what he would do._

 _"Mitsuki can't keep a secret from Boruto. Inojin is horrible at acting and would blow the cover for sure," she shrugged. "You are laid back and wouldn't make a fuss out of this. We get along quite well, too."_

 _He had his eyes trained on her as she spoke. How come she had never noticed just how green they were? They were not emeralds, not like her mother. They were darker, deeper and-_

 _Sarada sternly told herself to stop thinking._

 _"You've really put some thoughts into this, haven't you?"_

 _She snorted indelicately. "Anything for some peace and quiet. You know how Boruto and ChouChou can get."_

 _"Alright, I'll do it."_

 _"Seriously?"_

 _He nodded. "But, I'll pay-no, no, don't say anything. I know it's not a real date, but gotta keep up the act, right?"_

 _"Fine, since you so graciously offered…"_

 _"You owe me one. I expect you to follow through on that promise," he said seriously. There was a gleam in his eyes that told her she should be careful about whatever he got planning in the future._

 _"You are not making me do anything weird, are you?" Shikadai was all well and good, but she could never be too careful, not when he was looking at her like that._

 _"Don't worry about it," he laughed._

 _A week later, he showed up on her doorstep, telling her to get dressed as he was here to collect his favor. Later on, whenever anyone asked, he would say that was their first date._

 _But he was wrong, because the first one already happened three days before. Sarada decided not to inform him of that anytime in the near future, because she had a feeling that Shikadai wouldn't take well to being outsmarted._

* * *

She should have known they couldn't stay away from each other for long. Him lying in her bed, a trail of clothing discarded carelessly on the floor and the memory of last night were enough proof for that.

What had she done?

"This is a mistake," he said quietly from next to her. He had put enough distance between them that their bodies were no longer touching, to which she was grateful. She wasn't sure she could think clearly otherwise.

"You think?" she retorted sarcastically. The look he gave her told her that her attitude was not appreciated. A flash of guilt washed through her. She shouldn't have snapped at him like that; it was no more his fault than it was hers. "Sorry. I'm just…not in the best of mood right now."

He did not offer any reply to that. The bed groaned as he moved to get off and started putting on his clothing. Her eyes caught a flash of his bare chest. She immediately averted her gaze.

How funny it was, that she had spent the entire night with him and yet now, she couldn't bring herself to look at him without clothing.

Sarada pulled the sheets closer around her body and rubbed her temple. Everything happening in the last twelve hours had been one giant mistake. She shouldn't have agreed to take the night off and go out drinking with her old Academy class. She shouldn't have convince herself to keep on going after the first glass of sake. She _definitely_ shouldn't have let Shikadai walk her back home and then invited him in (even though it had seemed like an enormously good idea at the time).

But those things had happened. What good would it do her now to think about what she should and shouldn't have done?

"You are thinking that it was your fault," he spoke up, startling her from her thoughts. He had settled on the chair near her bed, fully dressed, though his hair was still down from its usual ponytail. His face was curiously blank, though one look at the way he was clenching his hands together told her that he was anything but calm. "But it takes two, you know. I don't do anything that I don't want to."

"You can't…we're not…"

"I am fully aware of that! We're not anything, I know," he snapped. And just like that, the careful façade that he had put on his face like battle amour splintered away, revealing a myriad of emotions that made it hard for her to breath.

It was one thing to know that he loved her, still, and it was another altogether to see it with her own eyes. And to realize that those feelings mirrored her own.

Sarada had spent months after that day in her office, convincing herself that she was moving on, that with every passing day, her feelings for him became less and less. But looking into those green eyes now, she knew that she had just been trying to fool herself, and she had done a rather poor job at that.

"We should try harder," she murmured, "we can't afford to-"

"Do you know why I agree with you that day? Why I didn't fight harder for you?" he cut her off abruptly.

"You knew it was the right thing to do…the logical thing."

He nodded. "You were right…you still are. But it is also because I know you, Sarada, and I know that you always want to do the right thing. You are such a martyr sometimes, always sacrificing for the greater good. You were happy with me, but you couldn't bring yourself to be content with that. Not when it was affecting our families.

"I wanted to relieve you of the guilt you would have otherwise. You deserve someone whom you are wholly happy to be with, someone who wouldn't make you constantly second-guessing your decision, wondering if your happiness is at the cost of other people. I can't…" he stopped, and she thought that she saw his eyes glistening, "I can't give you that."

There was a note of defeat in his voice as he uttered those last words. Something wet and hot dribbled down her cheeks. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating, her limbs weak and useless.

"What a pair we are, eh?" he attempted a smile, voice thick, "So ready to sacrifice ourselves."

"Maybe that's why we wouldn't work either way," she whispered, feeling the truth of her sentence cut into her inside like knives.

"Yes, maybe."

They didn't say anything more. What else was there for her to say?

There was this part inside her, this selfish part that she had always tried to ignore, that was telling her to discard everything else and just be with him. To hell with the clans, to hell with rules and traditions. The offer was tempting, and for one moment, Sarada found herself so very close to giving in.

But then she was reminded of the reason she had broken up with him in the first place. She was not just Sarada and he was not just Shikadai. There were things bigger than their personal happiness or them being together, things that they cherished and were willing to sacrifice for. They were young. In the future, they would meet other people and they would move on. They were probably nothing in the grand scheme of things.

 _Already given up before the battle had begun,_ the selfish voice sneered in disgust.

Sarada pushed the thought away. Not every battle had to be fought and not every fight could be won.

"I suppose I should go then," he murmured, standing up. "Goodbye, Sarada."

"Goodbye, Shikadai."

As he walked to the door, he hesitated, and then without turning around, he said, "Someday, you will meet someone that you are willing to move heaven and earth for. Don't be a martyr then, Sarada."

"I-"

But he was already gone.

* * *

 _It was the image of dark-haired, green-eyed children that made her realize that their future together was impossible._

 _She was with ChouChou and Sumire then. They were sitting in a café, enjoying a rare day out together. Lately, it had become increasingly difficult for them to meet up, with her being the Hokage, ChouChou getting more involved in her clan's business and Sumire preparing for her wedding with Boruto. This outing was the result of multiple failed attempts and ChouChou finally fed up and just dragged them to the café one day._

 _The conversation had strayed to the topic of children, as ChouChou started asking Sumire whether she and Boruto planned to have kids anytime soon. Naturally, the young woman had blushed ten shades of red._

 _"Well…we haven't…haven't really talked about it…" she muttered._

 _"You at least have some practices with the process of baby-making, no?" ChouChou teased, eyebrows waggling suggestively. She was clearly enjoying seeing her friend squirmed._

 _"Urgh, cut it out, Chou! I don't want to hear about Boruto's sex life. Bad mental image," Sarada groaned, and then added hastily, "No offense, Sumire."_

 _The purple-haired woman smiled. "It's alright, Sarada-chan."_

 _"What about you then, Hokage-sama?" ChouChou smirked. "You and Shikadai-"_

 _"We are just dating!"_

 _"Yeah, for two years already! Surely you have thought about the future."_

 _Sarada couldn't deny that she had, multiple times. She had briefly entertained the notion of her and Shikadai getting married, moving in together and start a family, but those notions were all swept under the rug as she tried to juggle her multiple responsibilities. It was only then, sitting with her friends, that the image of their children appeared inside her mind._

 _Black haired and green-eyed kids. Or blonde. Or pink. Bearing the insignia of…_

 _Sarada stopped short. Bearing the insignia of which clan? The Uchiha's, or the Nara's?_

 _Traditionally, upon marriage, the wife became a member of the husband's clan. She took his name, and so were their children. If they got married, then she would become Nara Sarada and their future kids would bear the insignia of the Nara clan on their clothes. Shikadai was the heir, which made it even more important for him._

 _But she was also the heir, to the Uchiha clan - a clan that up until that moment only had three members and only one who could carry on the name. Her husband would have to take her name and their children would bear the insignia of the Uchiha clan. If Shikadai married her, he could no longer be a Nara._

 _Sarada felt her stomach drop._

 _They were both heirs to their clans. They were both tied to the responsibility of becoming clan heads one day and continuing their names._

 _Would that mean, then, that any future with black-haired, green eyed children couldn't exist?_

* * *

Every time, she stared at the door long after he was gone. Shouldn't there be some satisfaction to doing the right thing?

Why was it that it had to hurt this much?

"Better to quit while we were ahead." That was what she had told him. End the relationship before it got to the point where they couldn't let go.

Sarada wondered if she had already gone past it.

 _End?_


	4. Incognito

**Summary: How hard could it be to buy a pregnancy test in Konoha? Turned out, it was plenty hard when the person in question was the Hokage. Or when Sarada and ChouChou failed the most important infiltration mission of their lives.**

 **Character: Uchiha Sarada, Akimichi ChouChou, OC (minor)**

 **Rating: T**

 **Word count: 1697**

 **Author note: I figure it has to be hard trying to be secretive when you are the Hokage, especially concerning something like pregnancy.**

* * *

"This is ridiculous!"

"It's a S-class mission of the utmost importance. _Nothing_ about this is ridiculous."

Sarada rolled her eyes at her overdramatic friend. Akimichi ChouChou could have pursued an acting career if she wasn't so set on becoming a shinobi.

"I'm going to the pharmacy, not facing a deranged goddess who threw a temper tantrum because her children didn't listen to her!" She eyed the oversized hat and the sunglasses ChouChou was waving around like weapons. "Besides, wouldn't a henge work better than those…costumes?"

"It wouldn't be as much fun, though."

"Right, because "a S-class mission of the utmost importance" has to be fun."

ChouChou nodded sagely. "Of course."

"Don't you think you are…I don't know, a bit overboard? The sale lady probably sees dozens of women everyday coming in to buy pregnancy tests. I'm just another customer."

All of this, of course, could be avoided by a much better solution, which was to go to the hospital for a proper checkup. But Sarada wasn't entirely sure that her symptoms were only that of a stomach flu, or that she was pregnant. She figured that she would take a test first before booking an appointment. Simple and painless. Really, how hard could it be?

What she had not expected, was for ChouChou to insist that she went out in disguise, which comprised of a large hat and oversized clothes that looked like they hadn't been worn in years.

"Honestly, you can be so dense sometimes-"

"-hey!"

"-you are not just another customer!" ChouChou continued with a note of impatience, "You're the Hokage. The sale lady would recognize you the moment you step into her store!"

"So what?"

"So what? How about that the entire village will know you are pregnant within the hour? I know how you are with your privacy, Sarada. Besides, do you want Boruto to find out about this through _gossip_?"

Sarada opened her mouth to retort, then faltered. ChouChou _did_ have a point there. The downside of being the most powerful figure in the village (not counting her parents or uncle, of course) and having her face carved into a giant slab of rock meant that she was rather recognizable. And once the sale lady put two and two together…

Well, she was sure that the news of Lady Hokage being pregnant would spread around Konoha (and possibly the entire continent) like wild fire. There were so many things that could go wrong from there. Like if she turned out to _not_ be pregnant, then damage control would be a nightmare for her advisors. Or if Konoha's enemies got wind of it…that could be nasty, though she knew that that was unavoidable. Even the Hokage couldn't hide a belly the size of a beach ball or claim it was because of the extra food she had been sneaking into her office at night.

And if her husband heard about it before she got around to properly inform him…Sarada mentally winced. She couldn't decide which was worse, Boruto keeling over from shock, or him shouting it from the top of the Hokage mountain while dancing like an idiot.

"Ah, I see that you finally catch on," ChouChou snorted. "Took you long enough. Aren't Uchihas supposed to be, I don't know, smart and all that stuff?"

"Shut up, Akimichi!"

The hat and oversized clothes didn't seem to be so bad, after all.

* * *

The lady was eyeing them suspiciously. Which was to be expected, seeing as she and ChouChou had walked into her shop, looking like a pair of hooligans and totally failing at being inconspicuous.

Not that they would have ever achieved that in the first place, considering the way they were dressed.

"The goal is not to be invisible," ChouChou had insisted. "We just need her to not recognize you. Tell me, what sane person would think that their _Hokage_ would be walking around, dressed like some…hippy cat lady?"

" _Hippy cat lady?!"_

Sometimes, Sarada wondered why she was ever friends with ChouChou in the first place. It had to be because her mom had dropped her on the head one too many times as a baby.

But she had to agree that there was a certain…brilliance in ChouChou's plan. No one spared her a second glance as she perused the aisle of the pharmacy, save for the sale lady whom she suspected had the police on speed dial.

It was refreshing, in a way, to be out on the street without people calling out to her, engaging her in conversation or otherwise, gazing at her in adoration. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the attention. Sarada did, to a certain degree, because it meant that she was doing a good job and people were happy. Better that the citizens of Konoha looked up to her, than for them to hate her.

Still, there were times when she couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit apprehensive. Sarada was an intensely private person by nature and having an entire village interested in whatever she did was rather overwhelming at times.

Konoha was her family, she knew, and family cared about one another, and shared things with each other. There were many things that she was willing to share with her village, but at least this time, this one time, she wanted to keep the news between her and Boruto first. Sarada wanted to be an expecting mother, relishing in the coming of her first born alongside her husband before being the Hokage.

ChouChou probably understood that, like she understood many thing else about Sarada without the Uchiha even voicing it, which was why she was doing this.

"Excuse me, do you need any help?"

The pair almost jumped at the sight of the sale lady standing a few feet away from them, a tight smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes. Some ninjas they were, Sarada thought dryly.

"Uhm…she's the one knocked up, not me," ChouChou said immediately.

" _Chou!_ " Sarada hissed at her friend.

"Oh, you are looking for pregnancy test, then?" The lady's face relaxed slightly. It seemed there was something about (possibly) pregnant women that made it less likely for them to trash her shop. "Is this your first time?"

"Yes." Sarada decided it was best to get this over with as soon as possible. "I just want something simple and fast. I have my suspicions, but it's best to make sure before going to the hospital."

"Of course, of course," the lady nodded, a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Then, her brow furrowed suddenly as she peered at Sarada. "You know, you sound really familiar. Have we met before?"

ChouChou threw her a look that probably translated to, _uh oh._

"A lot of people say that about my friend," the dark-skinned woman laughed nervously. "Apparently, she sounds like Lady Hokage."

The first thing she did when she got back to her office, Sarada decided, was to demote ChouChou back to Genin status. How the woman ever passed the Chuunin exam, let alone the Jounin one, with this kind of acting skill was beyond her.

The lady slapped her hands together, a triumphant look on her face. "That explains it, then! I keep thinking I have heard that voice somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where. Well, it's nice that you sound like Lady Hokage. She has such a lovely voice."

"I think she would love to hear that," ChouChou smirked. Sarada resisted the urge to send a Chidori her way.

She cleared her throat pointedly. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, so if you can…?"

"Oh, yes, yes! Well, let me see…something simple…" the lady muttered to herself as she searched through the shelve full of boxes. Sarada was a little baffled at how many brands there were. A pregnancy test was a pregnancy test, right? No matter what kind of advanced technology the manufacturers claimed to have used, the mechanism was pretty much the same. Life was already complicated enough without companies trying to confuse consumers.

But then again, with the way the economy was growing, it was only to be expected that there would be many different brands vying to sell the same things. Competition in the market was not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the claims on these boxes seemed a bit too outlandish to be acceptable. A pregnancy test, no matter how effective it was, could never guarantee that the result was 100% true.

Sarada frowned. She made a mental note to look into advertising regulation once this whole ordeal was over.

"Ah, here you go!" the lady pulled out a pink box with the image of a smiling woman printed on it. "This is the brand I usually recommend to my customers. Really easy to use. You just need to follow the direction on the box and that's it."

The Uchiha nodded. Simple was good. She didn't have a lot of time to spare, anyway, not with the pile of paperwork that never seemed to end waiting on her desk. She was already behind by agreeing to go on this…excursion.

The pair followed the sale lady to the cashier. Just as Sarada was reaching inside her pocket for her wallet, ChouChou put up her hands and stretched, accidentally knocking her hat to the ground.

"Do you want…" the sale lady trailed off, her eyes widening as she took a good, long look at Sarada. As for the Uchiha and her friend, both of them stood frozen to the spot, identical look of horror on their face as they took in their situation.

The lady looked back and forth between Sarada and the window, which happened to have an excellent view of the Hokage Mountain. Realization dawned on her face.

"Thank you for your help. Keep the change," Sarada said hurriedly, slapping some money on the counter and made a grab for the box before the both of them Shunshin-ed on the spot.

* * *

"Have you heard? Lady Hokage's _pregnant!"_

"Pregnant, you say?!"

"Yes! She came in my store to buy a test just now. Can you believe it?"

"I have to tell the entire village!"

 _End._


	5. Picture of the dead

**Summary: It was the duty of the Hokage to give speeches at funeral. This time, it was her turn.**

 **Rating: K+**

 **Character: Uchiha Sarada, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura**

 **Word count: 1546**

* * *

There were many duties that came with the position of Hokage. Giving orders to ANBU. Deciding who to send out for missions (and weathering the storm from their loved ones when they accused her of sending out their family member to die). Making appearances at important functions.

Giving speeches at funerals. Every single one of them. She _had_ to turn up. There was no _what if._

And now, here she stood, telling this crowd of people about how talented, brave and beautiful her mother had been. How she had dedicated her life serving the village. How she would be remembered through generations to come as the legendary Lady Sakura.

Because this was Sarada's duty.

Because her mother was dead.

And she just wanted to hide where no one could see her, and wept for the woman that, beyond being talented, brave and beautiful, beyond being a legend, was her mother.

But she couldn't.

* * *

 _They didn't notice the sign until it was too late._

 _"What do you mean, her body is slowly deteriorating?"_

 _Sarada wondered if anyone else could pick up on the naked fear that crossed her father's face as he said those words. Many people made the mistake of thinking Uchiha Sasuke was fearless, but in truth, it wasn't that he was without fear, he just knew how to hide them very well. There were only a handful of things (people) that could unravel him and her mother was one of them._

 _And Grandma Tsunade was telling them that she was dying._

 _"I mean just that, Uchiha," the woman snapped, though there was no sharp edge to her voice. She sounded weary and sad, like she had accepted that there was nothing she could do to win this battle._

 _Sarada couldn't help but wonder if Tsunade, the legend of all medic-nins, surpassed only by Sakura, had given up, then what hope did they have?_

 _"Repeated and prolonged use of the Seal, then that second pregnancy, then the years she spent battling her own illness…They are all taking a strain on Sakura's body," Tsunade continued, struggling to remain calm. "I have both Senju and Uzumaki blood in me…and I could barely withstand the side-effects sometimes. But Sakura…"_

 _The woman didn't need to say anything else. The pair of father understood, probably much more than they ever wanted to._

 _Uchiha Sakura - her mother, his wife and life partner - was dying. Not because of an enemy that they could battle and win (losing just wasn't an option). Because of illness and life and the inevitability of death._

 _Everyone died at some point. Sarada had just never thought that her mother's time would come so soon._

* * *

Her mother was all those beautiful adjectives that everyone was nodding along to, but not enough. Sarada wanted to say more, to show the world that Uchiha Sakura was more than a goddess, or a legend. Because both of those things weren't real, but her mother was.

Her mother had a real temper that no one could match. She could get angry very easy and when she did, usually the entire village would know. It wasn't because of poor spending that had gotten her family into so many financial troubles during her childhood. It was because of Sakura's tendency to accidentally destroy their house whenever she got worked up.

(Monstrous strength and a temper were a bad combination)

Her mother was a horrible cook. People got better with age (and a child to take care of), but if anything, Sakura's cooking skill got worse. Sarada remembered being constantly perplexed by the conundrum that was her mother, who could concoct several antidotes to poisons she had never seen before in under minutes with perfect precision, yet struggled with making something as simple as fried rice. Sarada had learned early on to cook, and to cook well, purely out of a deeply ingrained survival instinct.

Her mother _sucked_ at singing. Which also meant she sucked at Karaoke. Her voice wasn't horrible, and if compared with uncle Naruto's, Sarada could say that her mother had the making of an idol. It was that Sakura didn't seem to understand things like rhythm, or notes, or just about everything that made a song music instead of a collection of words put together.

No matter how much Sarada tried to explain, with every ounce of patience she had, that no, mom, you weren't supposed to belt out the lyrics like that, or common, mom, surely you can copy what I just sang, her mother never seemed to get it. She insisted on hogging the micro every time the Konoha 11 got together, and went on to sing so horribly offkey that it was a miracle anyone in the village even liked her.

"Your mother could kill with her singing," her father had whispered to her once, after turning on _both_ his Sharingan and Rinnengan to make sure that her mother wasn't around and wouldn't catch them bad-mouthing her behind her back.

Her mother was a workaholic. While Sarada knew that it wasn't necessary a bad thing (because her mother was out there saving lives and she should be proud and really, she was), she just wished that sometimes, Sakura would spend less time at the hospital and more time with her instead. Her childhood was a constant struggle of competing with dying patients for the attention of her mother, and evil masterminds to see her father.

Sarada was jealous. Shouldn't she be more important to them?

Then, as she got older and understood a few things, that jealousy ebbed away and came a new feeling. Worry. Her mother wasn't taking care of herself the way she insisted everyone else should. She was running herself ragged directing the hospital and the children clinic and the medic corps. It fell onto her family to remind her to shower, and eat, and sleep, because those things were sort of important, too.

Her mother made her so angry at times. Many times. More than she could count. People might think that it was her and her father who would clash, but they were wrong. Sarada and Sakura fought on a constant basis, from the smallest of things to matters of life and death.

Sakura nagged at her to keep everything clean, but Sarada preferred the mess and the sort of disorganized order that was her room. Sakura glared at her first boyfriend all throughout dinner and afterwards, told her pointblank that the boy was a bad sort, which prompted a fight that last for weeks.

(The boy _did_ turn out to be a bad sort, when he cheated on a month later)

Sakura fought with her over her flat refusal to take up shifts at the hospital unless they were extremely short-staffed. Her mother, who had spent most of her life running between the sterile corridor of the place, couldn't understand why Sarada was so reluctant to give up her time to heal people.

But it wasn't that she didn't want to heal. The hospital just scared her, because she was afraid that she wasn't strong enough to accept that she couldn't save everyone.

(Like now)

And there so many things else. A lifetime of memories, of happiness and tears and the feeling of her mother pulling her in for a hug, soothing her after her first kill.

Sarada just wished that she had had more times. Twenty-nine years seemed so short. Twenty-nine years weren't enough. It could never be enough.

She would trade anything just to see another house fall down, or to taste the horrid food that her mother made, or to hear her mother's awful singing. She wouldn't mind if her mother spent days at the hospital, just to see her walking through the front door, tired and ready to drop, but gloriously alive. She would fight with her, every day, and they would make up afterwards.

Sarada would do all of those things, and more, over and over again.

The tears felt like they were choking her. Her mother was gone. Gone. She had left Sarada behind, left her father behind, left her little brothers behind. She had left every single person that had ever loved her and would continue to love her, to go to a place that they could yet follow.

What was Sarada to do now?

"Uchiha Sakura," she said, after a long stretch of silence, "was flawed, frustrating and downright frightening at times. You wouldn't want to get on her bad side, _ever._ "

There was a scandalous gasp in the crowd. But the snort of laughter coming from the front role was louder.

Her father was smiling, the first she had seen in days.

"She's not a goddess. She's not a legend. And that's good, because she was real. She loved us and we all love her still."

Sarada closed her eyes, and years flashed through her eyes. This was her duty, but it was also her right, because no one else could have made this speech.

"Goodbye, Mama."

It would be a long time, before everything was okay again.

 _End._


	6. Alone for the night

**Summary: In which Sarada showed her enemies exactly why it wouldn't be such a good idea to send assassins into her home, even when she was six and a half months pregnant and had trouble seeing her toes.**

 **Rating: T**

 **Character: Uchiha Sarada**

 **Author note: This is related to the incident mentioned in 'Premature'.**

 **Word count: 2103**

* * *

Boruto might call it an abuse of her power. He might…no, he would definitely tell her that it was terribly bad judgement on her part to send the four ANBUs home for the night.

Sarada didn't consider it an _abuse,_ really. ANBU was directly under her order. They obeyed her, and her only. And if she wanted none posting outside her home for the night, then they were obliged to follow her command.

"It's only one night! Nine hours, probably less, since I know you ANBUs all too well."

"Hokage-sama…"

"…Lord Boruto had made it clear…"

Sarada glared at the four, her control on her temper slowly splintering away. Her father might have the combined force of the Sharingan and the Rinnengan in his glare, but she was pregnant and cranky and completely sick of her baby doing somersaults inside her stomach at the presence of other chakra signatures outside of its parents'.

During the last checkup, her mother had confirmed a theory that she had been pushing around her head. Her baby responded to chakra much more than any normal fetus would. It was clear when her mother used chakra to check up on her. And that he or she seemed to be kicking every time a new shinobi appeared in her near vicinity happened too frequently to be considered coincidences.

Her unborn child was turning out to be quite the sensor, it seemed. Sarada would be proud of the kid someday, she knew she would. But right now, all the child had managed to do with its gift was making her nauseous whenever there were shinobis around her. And since there were _always_ a few ANBUs trailing her at all time, it meant that Sarada spend a lot of time being sick.

So she had decided that at least for tonight, she deserved some peace and quiet, and a balanced stomach. Boruto was away for a mission and she had the house all to herself. She had made up her mind to send her ANBU guard away, even though she knew that many people (Boruto) would be extremely upset with her once they found out.

But Sarada wasn't the Hokage and in charge of the entire village for nothing, god damnit. And what could possibly be happen during a few hours in the middle of the night on a perfectly normal day?

"Boruto is ANBU commander, but _I_ am your Hokage and what I say goes!"

Kami, she sounded a bit too much like Grandma Tsunade lately, even aunt Sakura had remarked on it.

"But, Lady Hokage, what if something happens?" The concern in their voice was touching, but she was also a tad irritated at their protectiveness and obvious underestimation of her power.

"Then I'll take care of it. There's a reason I became Hokage, you know, and it's not only because I'm good at paperwork," she rubbed her temple with her fingers. "Leave for the night and come back at 5 tomorrow morning. That's an order, all of you."

A beat of silence, and then…

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Ah, finally, sweet freedom, if only for a few hours.

* * *

Sarada was woken up by two things in the dead of night - her baby's incessant kicking and, moments later, the barest flick of chakra against the edge of her consciousness. Chakra that didn't belong to her own or anyone she knew.

Of all the nights for someone to sneak into her house.

Stretching out her sense, she detected two foreign chakra signatures downstairs. They had made an effort to conceal their presences, but they had obviously underestimated her if they thought that was enough.

"Ouch!" Sarada winced after a particularly hard kick against her kidney. Her baby was agitated by the trespassers. She rubbed a hand against her stomach, murmuring in a soothing voice, "Shh, sweetheart. Mama's here. Mama won't let anyone hurt you."

Sarada considered her options. She could go downstairs and engage them, or she could wait for them to come to her and deal with them right here. She rather liked the second option, but the thought of getting blood all over their bedroom was distasteful. Besides, the sooner she approached them, the sooner she could go back to sleep. She had an early meeting with her council tomorrow morning and she would prefer not falling asleep half-way through.

Quietly making her way out of bed, she opened the closet door and searched for the secret compartment where they kept their weapons. Sarada relied more on her bare fists than anything else, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. It wasn't only her life that was being threatened here, it was also her baby's as well.

 _Boruto's going to chew me up so bad about this_ , she wryly thought to herself as she crept downstairs, a kunai holster strapped to her thigh. With her sharingan activated, the world was no longer encased in darkness, but everything was sharp and clear. Sarada didn't even need her glasses, which was good, considering that she had broken a pair just last week and would rather not having to replace them yet again.

"She's probably upstairs," she heard someone whispered and had to resist the urge to snort. Clearly, the two that had been sent after her weren't the sharpest kunais in the holster. Sarada was torn between feeling relieved that her task was much simpler than she had thought and insulted that her enemy had considered her so easy to take down.

Time to make her presence known.

"Looking for me?"

The pair tensed upon hearing her. The man and woman immediately held up their katana and wakizashi, ready to attack. They bore no hitai-ite or anything that Sarada could identify them with, but it didn't really matter. Assassins wouldn't be assassins if their target could recognize who they were or where they were from.

"Well, what do you know, she just makes our job a lot easier," the woman sneered.

"You two are here to kill me, I presume?" Sarada asked calmly. "May I know why? Or better yet, who sent you?"

"All you need to know is that our boss wants you dead," the man retorted, "and we are going to make it happen."

"Fine, no matter. You'll spill everything once T&I get their hands on you."

Her fingers flashed through familiar hand seals. A dozen mini fireballs sped towards the pair. Using their momentary distraction, she leaped up and gathered chakra in her hand, lightning cracking around her fist. The man tried to cut her down, but she was faster. Before he could inflict any damage on her, she had already delivered a blow to his middle, breaking several of his ribs and paralyzing him. The force was enough to send him through the kitchen wall and out into the backyard.

"I'll kill you!" the woman hissed, charging at her. Sarada sidestepped the blow and punch the woman's arm. The woman howled in pain as her bone was snapped into two, but she did not stop her attack, merely switching her wakizashi to her left hand.

Her baby suddenly kicked. Her opponent made use of her momentary distraction and nicked the skin of her shoulder. The injury was more of an annoyance than any real threat, but it was enough to pull Sarada's attention back to the fight. She formed a chakra scalpel in her hand, dropped down to avoid the blade aiming for her head and cut cleanly through the woman's hamstring.

The woman fell to the floor, her left leg useless. From behind her, the man's chakra flared to life once more. He was coming back in to finish the job.

"I've got to admit, you two are dedicated," Sarada commented lightly as she caught his katana with her hands. She sent chakra to her foot and kicked him down. This time, he coughed out blood, spraying her face and her night shirt.

Her Sharingan flashed as she regarded the pair. "Give up and I'll make things easier for you."

"Never!" the man spat out, struggling to pick himself up from the floor, "Our boss told us to take it slow with you. We'll kill that bastard you are carrying first, then we'll have some fun with you. "

"Then when your coward of a husband return…oh, I would love to see his face…" the woman trailed off as pure, murderous chakra suddenly filled the room. Tension cut through the air and cracks started to appear on the walls surrounding them.

Sarada felt fury rising within her and she gladly welcomed it. She had only intended to knock the pair unconscious and had them brought in for questioning in T&I, but she had changed her mind. No one could say something like that to her and get away with it.

"You two are not very bright, are you?" she asked in a low voice, fists clenching. The ground beneath her feet cracked at the force she was exerting.

They swallowed audibly. "What are you talking about?"

Rubbles started to fall around them. She was running a very real risk of destroying half of their house, but Sarada didn't care.

"You don't threaten a child in front of its mother, or insult a husband in front of his wife," she smiled dangerously, " _Especially_ if that person is me."

She felt the familiar change in her chakra as her Sharingan shifted into the Mangekyo. She looked into their eyes, the command coming to her mind effortlessly.

 _Tsukyomi._

Their bodies went slack. Sarada immediately turned off the doujutsu, feeling the strain on her eyes and the drain in her chakra. It was a technique that she rarely employed, if at all. Boruto would probably scold her when he found out she had used it, but Sarada didn't regret it. Any slights directed to her, she could take it. However, to think that they had dared to threaten her baby and insult her husband…

The rumbling around her reminded Sarada that the kitchen was about to collapse, along with her bedroom which was situated directly above, all because of her. It seemed that among the many things she inherited from her mother, a penchant for destroying houses was one of them.

Sighing, she picked up the bodies of the two assassins and teleported outside. At least her baby had stopped kicking.

* * *

Two teams of ANBU had arrived minutes after half her house had been reduced to a pile of rubbles. Funnily enough, her baby had hardly stirred at the new presences.

"Hokage-sama, _what happened_?"

"I just…went a little overboard, no big deal," she shrugged, then pointed to the pair of assassins lying unconscious on the ground, "Have these two locked up. I'll personally question them tomorrow."

"Hai, Hokaga-sama."

"Did they attack you?"

"Tried to. Someone sent them and I want to find out who," her voice took on a dark note as she said those words.

"You are bleeding. Should I send for a medic? What about your baby?"

Sarada laughed as she put a glowing hand on her shoulder to heal the shallow cut there. "Thank you for your concern, Hawk, but I'm fine and my baby is fine. It's not my blood."

The ANBUs nodded. They looked on edge and she could not blame them. Two people had just sneaked into the village and made an attempt on her life, though a rather pathetic one. Who knew how many out there were entertaining the same idea and trying to turn her pregnancy into their advantage? She couldn't take this lying down. A threat to her was just as much a threat to the village and she had made an oath to protect Konoha with everything she got.

And while Sarada didn't doubt that she was strong enough to protect herself, she didn't want to risk her baby. One fight was fine, but who knew what could happen in the future.

With those thoughts in mind, she ordered one of the ANBUs to contact her advisor. She needed to have a talk with Shikadai about making a public announcement.

But first thing first…

"Say, Hawk."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

She gave her masked guard a grin. "You don't happen to know where to get some dango at this hour, do you?"

 _End._


	7. Her strength

**Summary: Somewhere along the line, he had decided that she took care of the village, and he, in turn, would take care of her. Because even Hokages needed someone to lean on.**

 **Rating: K**

 **Word count: 326**

 **Note: Just a short little story on how Boruto became Sarada's second.**

* * *

When Sarada boldly declared in front of their entire class that she would be the Hokage someday, Boruto was reminded of a conversation that he had with his father years ago, when he was young and short and not constantly angry at the man.

(Even he knew was being a brat, but he just wanted to have a meal with his entire family present, every once in a while)

"Ne, tou-chan, what does it mean to be Hokage?"

"Being Hokage means taking care of everyone in the village, Boruto-kun. The village is your family. You have to protect your family."

Something hadn't sat right with him back then. "But…if you take care of the village…who would take care of you then?"

"…well, I have you and your sister. You two are my children and you give me strength. And your mother, she's my friend and my partner. I can always lean on her."

"Like when you are tired and stuff?"

His dad laughed and ruffled his hair. "Yes, like that. Every Hokage has a Hinita-chan and a Boruto-kun and a Hima-chan to take care of them."

And then Boruto looked at Sarada, proud and determined. Her parents were busy people (he would know, because she had spent too many nights at his home while her mom was called to the hospital and her dad wasn't around). She didn't have _children_. As for her own Hinata-chan…

Boruto was old enough to understand things like marriage and life partner. Sarada would get married some days, but that day seemed so far away when they were only ten and still thought the opposite sex had cooties. She would need someone to watch over her until some guy swoop in and took her away (Boruto didn't like the sound of that guy already).

So Boruto decided early on that until that day, Sarada could work on taking care of the village and he could work on taking care of her.

 _Fin._


End file.
